1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety belt system for use in cars and the like, and which essentially comprises a fastener, a belt, if desired, with a coiling device, and attachment devices for securing the assembly to the fixed car structures. The invention, more specifically, relates to securing devices having qualities of flexibility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the car, and especially in the back seats of cars like station wagons and so called combined station wagons, where the seats can among other things, be folded back, there is a demand for flexibility mounting or securing, especially, safety belt fasteners. For securing safety belt fasteners, today, tapes of metal or synthetic fiber, single wire with a shrunk end member and so called shrunk double wire are used.
The above mentioned means for securing safety belt fasteners all have the disadvantage that they are not able to flex back after having been subjected to forces that displace the fastener from its correct position, so as to place said fastener in its original and correct position again. Said conditions usually occur in connection with folding back and folding up seats and the like. A disadvantage of, especially, wire as a fixing means is that due to structural reasons, e.g. shrunk end members, relatively elongated and bulky installations result which will easily get in the way, especially when the position of seats is changed. When the safety belt fastener is to be used it has to be pulled out manually and held in a certain position. In order to avoid such handling, rubber bands or some kind of hooking mechanisms are often used to secure the fastener, e.g. to the back rest of the seat. Various kinds of spring mechanisms are also used to return the fastener to its correct position after it was bent away. In case the safety belt fastener is secured by the aid of tape or the like, such tape may be provided with a stocking/sleeve of plastic or rubber reinforced with fibers so as to cause said fastener to flex back.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for securing safety belt fasteners where the above mentioned disadvantages are eliminated. More precicely, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that is able to absorb great forces and, at the same time is not bulky, and has a degree of flexibility that will make it return the fastener to a predetermined position irrespective of the forces bending the fastener away and the influence of those forces, after such forces they have ended.
These objects are achieved according to the present invention with a safety belt system comprising a fixing device that is, essentially, characterized by the fact that it comprises a core consisting of fibrous material, preferably in the shape of a filament of ribbon, which is completely or partly encased in a relatively thin layer of rubber material and which is wound into a shape essentially corresponding to that of the finished fixing device, and that said encased core is surrounded by vulcanized rubber composition.
Other characteristic features of the safety belt system will appear from the following descriptions.